I was involved in a head on car collision as a passenger in feb 2009 and have been in severe pain in my left arm, shoulder, and neck since. I have had 2 shoulder MRIs and a chest MRI with no abnormal results. I finally was permitted to have a cervical MRI (my lawyers kept saying "no") and these are the Impression results:

Some reversal of normal lordosis centered at c3-c4 level. No subluxation. Consider follow-up flexion-extention views if there is clinical concern for ligamentous injury, instability.

My orthopedic doctor recommended I see a spinal surgeon for consultation. My lawyers say this is not significant enough to follow up on.I have had 3 steroid injections in my shoulder socket, no relief. I had about 7 months physical therapy and chiropracting with minimal relief that didn't last. It is also very painful for me to look down (such as when cooking or reading).

Should I insist upon this consultation? Is it at all possible this is where all my pain and weakness is coming from? Any information about the results or how they are effecting my pain would be much appreciated.

You can have a consultation with the neuro. surgeon and you may get a different form of treatment. Did you have soft tissue massage for physical therapy? There are different types of physical therapy and depending on what the problem is, one type of treatment may not help at all. I was also in a car accident years ago, and had severe whiplash injuring my neck pretty bad. But after months of chiro. still had problems with pain and stiffness. I was then sent to a neuro. and all they found was a mildly bulging disc, it was all in the muscles, I had severe muscle strain. He prescribed physical therapy, but this was deep tissue massage where they knead the knots out, not exercies, which actually made me worse. This is what eventually helped me immensely. I hope you get some relief.